Tesoro, Valero CEOs take home big pay in 2015

1of2Gregory Goff is the president and CEO of Andeavor and will be one of three Andeavor executives to join the new leadership team at the combined Marathon Petroleum Corp. when it completes its purchase of the San Antonio-based refiner.Photo: /COURTESY PHOTO

2of2Valero Energy Corp. CEO Joe Gorder made 117 times the median pay at his company in 2017.Photo: Darren Abate /For the Express-News

Oil prices may be hurting, but the pay packages for top executives at two San Antonio-based refining giants did just fine in 2015.

Tesoro Corp. awarded CEO and President Gregory Goff more than $23 million in salary, bonus and stock compensation for his work last year, an 11.5 percent increase from the year before, the company disclosed in a recent regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Goff also received $17.8 million in restricted shares and other stock that was awarded in previous years and vested in 2015, according to the filing. Restricted stock is generally tied to a company’s long-term performance and vests in equal increments over three to five years before it can be sold.

Valero Energy Corp.’s Joe Gorder, the CEO, president and board chairman, was awarded more than $17.5 million in total compensation for 2015, up less than 1 percent from 2014, according to a separate filing with the SEC.

Gorder also received another $7.1 million in stock options and restricted stock that were awarded in previous years and vested in 2015, according to the filings.

Unlike the drillers that actually pull the oil out of the ground, the companies that refine it into gasoline and other fuels have been something of a safe harbor for energy investors during the crash in crude oil prices. U.S. crude has plummeted from $107 a barrel in June 2014 to around $39 a barrel on Tuesday. Oil and gas producers have been slashing budgets and laying off workers amid what analysts say is the worst slump in crude prices in 45 years.

Refiners benefit from the cheaper crude that generates higher profit margins, while low prices at the pump drive up consumer demand for fuel.

Goff’s compensation at Tesoro included $1.59 million in base pay, $11.3 million in stock awards, more than $4 million in incentive pay, $6.17 million in pension benefits and $80,615 in “other compensation,” which went into a thrift savings plan, according to the company’s calculation of his pay and benefits in regulatory filings.

Tesoro, which operates six refineries in the western U.S., generated $1.5 billion in profits for 2015, up from $872 million the year before.

In regulatory filings, Tesoro said that executive compensation reflected “record net earnings and strong financial and operating performance in 2015.”

At Valero, Gorder’s 2015 pay included more than $212,000 in “other compensation” for things such as $8,800 in club membership dues and $4,200 in income tax preparation fees. Valero’s executives are also eligible to receive reimbursement for things such as personal excess liability insurance and an annual health examination.

Gorder’s pay was $17.37 million in 2014. He took over as Valero CEO in May 2014.

Valero profits for all of 2015 were up by more than 31 percent to $4.6 billion, an increase from $3.5 billion for 2014.

Midstream companies, which move and store oil products, also have fared better than oil producers.

Bradley Baron, president and CEO of San Antonio’s NuStar Energy LP, earned $2.4 million in 2015, according to company calculations of his compensation package in corporate filings.

Baron also had more than $772,000 in stock options and exercises, according to the filings.

NuStar, a master limited partnership, which owns pipelines, terminals and storage facilities, reported net income of $257.4 million last year, or $3.30 per share, up from $163.3 million, or $2.10 per unit, in 2014.

Jennifer Hiller covers the Eagle Ford Shale, the massive oil and gas field in South Texas. She previously covered real estate, development and architecture for the Express-News. Jennifer has worked at several newspapers across Texas, as well as at the Honolulu Advertiser and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. She's a Houston native and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where she received a degree in journalism.